


An Affinity

by Masdevallia



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Anxiety, Crushes, F/M, Mutual Pining, Post A-Support (Fire Emblem), Post-Time Skip, Test anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masdevallia/pseuds/Masdevallia
Summary: Hubert and Bernadetta take their final certification exams-They were sitting here today in the war room precisely because of each other. He had a natural talent in lancework, she had an affinity with horses. Both of their certificates required these skills to pass, alongside their strengths in reason and bows, respectively...Hubernie Week Day 6: Fight
Relationships: Bernadetta von Varley & Hubert von Vestra, Bernadetta von Varley/Hubert von Vestra
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35
Collections: Hubernie Week





	An Affinity

In a sense, ever since the moment Professor had sided with Lady Edelgard, Hubert had found himself to be a happier man. If there was one rather pleasant side effect that came out of all of this it was the growth he had experienced since that crucial moment in the holy tomb. 

No longer were there secrets building up between him and the rest of the Black Eagles, and even now, they had helped each other through trust and teamwork. Hubert once thought the sheer notion was all nauseating, but it was nothing but a coping reaction that it could have made their mutual betrayal all the more bitter if he had bought into the idea. As a result, these past five years hadn’t been easy, and the brutality they had to enforce was for the good of Fódlan, but the burden was easier to share with friends. 

The Strike Force’s strength kept growing. It had started with Caspar von Bergliez, of all people. Although at first glance, it wasn’t all too hard to fathom that he would be the first to dive in and become a proper War Master. He may have lacked a lot of wisdom and in some cases, basic common sense, but the man had inherited a unique charisma that showed itself best in the heat of battle. His warlike ways of showing morale had begun to spread. And then Petra MacNeary was next with the graceful way she commanded a wyvern. She was gloriously good at handling all weapon types, too, but swords and axes especially.

And today, it would be his and Bernadetta von Varley’s turn for their final certification exams. 

They waited together in the war room. Bernadetta was visibly nervous, squirming in her seat and playing with the new embroidered flower she made for herself. A flower that matched the one he agreed to wear two months ago.

“You’re nervous,” he said. If this were five years ago, he would have wondered if her nerves had to do with him. But she had once fainted on the spot because she feared him so much. But now he knew better. 

Bernadetta appeared to be lost in thought—and too much so. 

“Would it help if I offered my services? Perhaps a hand?” He had helped Edelgard countless times with hand holding. Hubert knew that sometimes, it was best for something to hold on to. Physical support was often beneficial. 

Not that they hadn’t done so before. 

In fact, they were sitting here today in the war room precisely because of each other. He had a natural talent in lancework, she had an affinity with horses.  Both of their certificates required these skills to pass, alongside their strengths in reason and bows, respectively. They had spent months helping the other out whenever they weren’t attending their one-to-one sessions with the Professor. From handling the horses in the stables, to practicing footwork and stances, to using their lances while on their horses. 

Bernadetta tried her best to emulate Hubert’s natural way of holding the lance (posture was definitely an issue with her for some time) while Hubert couldn’t help but admire how the horses took to her.  The only person she rivaled was Ferdinand, who could have easily helped them, but had to contend with weight training alongside Lady Edelgard.

“Huh?” Bernadetta said, snapping back to reality. “Did you say something, Hubert?”

“You appear nervous,” he said. “If you needed my help, perhaps a hand to hold or shoulder to lean on, then it’s yours.”

Bernadetta’s hand found his in seconds. Hubert had been astounded by how quickly she took it and with how warm it was. She squeezed his hand, her nerves very visible. Hubert looked away in an effort not to blush. He had only ever held Edelgard’s hand before and had anyone had the mind to step in here, Hubert wondered if they would have the wrong context on the situation. That being said, he didn’t mind doing this with her. She had grown in great strides, physically, mentally, and emotionally and now that she was out of her room more, she got to show her great talents to the rest of the Eagles. She was also remarkably pretty and—

_ What is wrong with you? _

Hubert cleared his throat. “Perhaps it could help,” he said in an attempt to distract himself from his dangerously wandering mind.

“What can help?”

“Talking about why you feel so apprehensive about this exam.”

“Um...I know things have gotten really crazy lately. I’m not doing this for me, but for all of us. For Edelgard, for the Empire, for the Professor, and for...you.” Her gaze locked with his.

“I see...They’re quite valid. Your reasons, I mean. But you have nothing to fear, of that I assure you. If anything—”

The doorknob rattled. Hubert and Bernadetta simultaneously unclasped their hands from each other. Professor Hanneman, Hubert’s test proctor, had arrived. 

Hubert stood up, nodding at Hanneman. 

“Good luck!” Bernadetta said before Hubert left the room. He also wished her the best luck before Shamir would enter the room to coordinate her exam.

Hubert was content when he saw the results of his exam. They were strictly pass/fail and he had passed, officially gaining the allowance to become a Dark Knight in battle.

The Professor, Edelgard, and surprisingly, Dorothea were the first to know of the results of his exam when he found them dining together in the dining hall.

“Hello Hubie,” Dorothea said. 

“How did your certification exam go?” Edelgard asked. 

“It went quite well.”

“Congratulations,” the Professor said. “You’ve done well.”

“Thank you,” Hubert said. “It was in part, thanks to your guidance. I also have Bernadetta to thank. Have any of you happened to have seen her? I doubt so, considering she was still waiting to be examined when—”

“Oh!” Dorothea began, “I saw Bern in the courtyard before I got the Professor’s invitation for lunch today! Now that I think about it, she seemed kind of upset.”

Hubert’s spirits deflated, even though he was good at not showing his true face. Edelgard had noticed it, but said nothing of the sort. He didn’t want word getting out that he valued the members of the Strike Force team as deeply as he did. 

“Would you happen to know in what direction she was headed?”

“Where else, but her room.”

“Hubert,” the Professor said. “Perhaps it is not a good idea to visit Bernadetta when she’s upset.”

But Hubert was not one to simply listen. He would continue to provide the comfort he had given her prior to their exams and tell her she could always retake her exam next week. 

When he neared Bernadetta’s room, he could hear loud sobbing. It seemed she was taking her failure a lot worse than he thought. It wouldn’t be as humiliating as Ferdinand, who failed his Great Knight exam for three weeks in a row. It was a miracle he wasn’t retaking it again today. He assumed the Professor had stepped in on that. There could possibly be no greater humiliation than that.

Hubert knocked on her door. “Bernadetta?”

Her sobs were too loud for her to hear him. So instead he repeated her name louder and louder until she had finally heard him. “Oh no, it’s Hubert!” she said loud enough for him to hear. It was clearly unintentional on her part but he felt the sting of being unwanted. Even after all of the time they spent training together.

“May I come in?”

“You don’t want to, trust me.”

Hubert knew Bernadetta wasn’t exactly the most organized person. The few times he’d seen her room, she had textiles and other sewing materials on the floor. He supposed it was better for her bedroom floor to be messy rather than her carelessly leaving needles about. “As I said earlier, I do not mind being a shoulder for you to place your burdens on.”

Bernadetta opened the door. Her face was tearstained, her hair was messy enough to harken back to their academy days where it appeared barely brushed and cared for. 

“May I?” he asked. 

She deferred to him as he sat on the edge of her bed. Hubert decided to get right to the point as Bernadetta sobbed into his shoulder. Hubert knew his tear stained jacket would now cling to him for the next hour but it was but a temporary burden, just as this issue was. “I understand what it is like to not succeed. When...when I was a boy, my father himself always set a harsh standard for me to follow, to uphold. However, this is but a temporary matter and you can always retake the exam next week.”

Bernadetta shook her head. “I didn’t…” she sniffed between her words, “I didn’t fail.”

“So you passed? Then why in the world are you—”

“I couldn’t do it, Hubert! I just couldn’t!”

Hubert froze, completely unable to understand what she just said. “You...did not take the exam? Is that what you’re saying?”

She nodded. 

“Why? Why did you not take the exam?” he asked. “When you so clearly know better. That you’re the primary archer of the Black Eagles Strike Force.”

“Because...because…I’m not good enough to be a Bow Knight. There’s nothing knightly about Bernie.”

“I’m afraid that’s not a good enough answer, Bernadetta.”

Bernadetta backed away from him. 

“So I’m going to ask you again. Why did you not take the exam?” He felt frustration knowing she was more than capable of not only taking the exam and passing it and that she was holding herself back again. She took too long to respond. “Tell me, Bernadetta,” he said, his tone even.

“There’s too much pressure on me, okay!”

“I already had told you everything you needed to know earlier. What you’re spinning is an ill-conceived narrative that you are only setting yourself up to failure.”

“That’s not true!” she said, her voice rising. 

_ This is a pointless argument _ . “Then why didn’t you take the exam again, Bernadetta? I won’t ask you this again. Answer the question.” Hubert could hear the frustration in his voice. 

Bernadetta didn’t reply. For a second, she sniffed, her eyes wide, and then she promptly ran out of her room, screaming. The way it had all happened was so quick. He had nearly forgotten her speed was unrivaled as she took flight from her room. 

Hubert knew the only course of action was to follow her. But Dorothea had waylaid him. Her hands were on her hips.

“I just saw Bern screaming your name while crying. What. Did. You. Do?” she asked, jabbing a finger into his chest with each word.

“I did nothing. And neither did she, apparently.”

“You didn’t listen to the Professor, Hubert,” she said in a rare instance of using his full name. “She was upset and if my hunch is correct, you further agitated her.”

“I only wanted to know why she refused to take her certification exam when she’s clearly ready for it.”

Dorothea’s hands went to her hips. “Knowing you, you probably pushed her when it was something she needed to sort out for herself. Didn’t you learn from Ferdie that it’s not okay to just push her? The more you do that, the more she’ll pull away. I’m surprised you’re uninjured.”

Hubert reflected on his actions. “I suppose I may have been...adamant.”  _ I was too adamant. _

“Then go apologize to her!”

“Where do you think she went, then?” His first guess would have been the greenhouse, but she didn’t run in that direction.

Dorothea shook her head. “I’d say based on the direction, most likely the courtyard rooftop on the third floor.”

“What?” Hubert said, trying not to feel ill-at-ease from the idea of being so high up.

“I’ve caught her there a few times watering the plants up there. But you better apologize or else I swear I will not make things easy for you!”

Hubert sucked in a breath and took the stairs up until he reached the end.

Like Dorothea had said, she was standing there, too close to the stone railing. He cleared his throat.

She wordlessly turned around and burst into tears again. 

_ Now instead of screaming in fear she cries at my presence.  _

Hubert decided it was at least best to speak now. “Er...My apologies, Bernadetta, for my intransigence. I allowed my frustration to get the better of me, which upset you further. I realize frustration is the key word, but based on our training together, I believed I was training alongside a capable Bow Knight. And I do not mean my words lightly. I understand how harrowing an exam might be, for your every action is taken under a microscope.”

Bernadetta said nothing. “I um...You probably think it’s foolish of me to feel this way, anyway. After all, I’ve taken these certification exams three times, right?”

“And you’ve passed each one.” Hubert decided to ask her a different question. One he should have asked since the start. “Let’s try a different approach, shall we?”

“Um...okay.”

“Let’s say we reached a worst case scenario. A hypothetical, if you will, and you did fail the exam. What’s the worst that could have happened?”

Bernadetta stared at him, clearly thinking out her answer. “Um...I would have to keep studying again, right? And then take the test again. Although it costs the Professor so much money to get the tests and if I fail, then…”

“The Empire shall procure the funds, do not worry. Do you have anything else to add?”

“I’ll still be a Sniper.”

“And is it so terrible being a Sniper? I believe it’s a rather lauded class that few can certify into.”

“No, I guess not.”

“So if I understand correctly, you will remain at your current designated class, landing critical hits on enemy units even through an unfathomable distance.”

“But didn’t you say—”

“It matters not what I said. What I said was of the moment and by my own admission, crass.”

Bernadetta wiped her tears and walked closer to him. 

“And even if you were to fail the certification exam, there is no better person who can take criticism like you do. You take your flaws to heart and practice until you’ve reached perfection. It’s one of your many admirable traits. I take it if we reach the theoretical worst case scenario, you’d likely pass the following week. Unlike a certain former heir,” he said.

Bernadetta paused, her face scrunched deep in thought.

“Um...alright. I’ll take the test.”

“And even if you fail, we can still train together. And if you fail again and again, I will continue to fight alongside you.” Hubert knew they were both pretty frail in battle and had to stay as close to the back as possible. They would mutually protect one another. 

Bernadetta nodded. “Um...thanks for the encouragement. I’ll just...go face my fears.”

*

Hubert decided to discreetly follow Bernadetta and hung just outside the room where she and Shamir were in, pretending to be absorbed in a book.

From what he could hear, Shamir was agitated by how late Bernadetta was, but Hubert knew Shamir was more patient than she let on. 

As he idly turned a page, he heard the door burst open. 

Bernadetta always wore her emotions on her sleeves so it was no surprise as to how she did when he saw the look of pure and utter elation on her face. “I did it! I did it!”

What he didn’t expect, however, was her running straight into his arms, wrapping him up in an embrace. Hubert wasn’t used to that unless he was being cried on for support. The feeling was admittedly quite lovely.

“I can’t believe I did it on the first try!”

“I can,” he said. “Quite easily. There’s no one who has scored an A in preliminary bow examinations and you had scored a B+ in your riding one. The logistics were easily in your favor.”

“I did it! I really did it!” she chanted over and over again. 

He patted his hand on the top of her head. “You did, and I’m quite proud of you.”

“Thanks for um, believing in me, even if you were a bit...um, harsh. You meant well, Hubert.”

“I will do everything I can not to push you like that.” She let go of him. He met her watery gray eyes. Hubert ignored the thoughts of how pretty she looked like this, when she was in a state of pure joy and how he wanted to see it happen again and again. Unfortunately, they were currently in the middle of a war so he would have to savor the little moments like this that came increasingly fewer and farther between. 

“I believe you, Hubert.”

“Now, let’s go tell the others the good news, shall we?”

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, Ferdinand did fail his Great Knight exam in one of my files for three straight weeks in a row (I'm pretty certain it was in my Silver Snow run, which also happened to be the one where I S-ranked him). The RNG hated him.


End file.
